Ricky Gervais: What period or moment in your life brought you the most joy?

The question

What period or moment in your life brought you the most joy?

Originally asked

The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A

Asked in 52 of the 131 consecutive instalments of The Guardian's The Q&A harvested on 2026-08-29.

You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.

Ricky Gervais

Recorded said elsewhere, not written here

I can't remember a time when I was happier than now, to be honest – though that's always been the case.

The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 19 April 2014 source ↗

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Tom Ellis Welsh actor

On a caravan site on a farm in the Brecon Beacons when I was a kid. I have three sisters and every year we met family friends with kids the same age. We would go to the river and make rope swings and build dens. It was very Enid Blyton.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 4 September 2021 source ↗

Christian Louboutin

Weirdly enough, in Portugal during confinement.

Recorded Vanity Fair, The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, September 2021 source ↗

Kelly Macdonald Scottish actress

My wedding day. I had a sore face from laughing and smiling so much. Other than that, I am the happiest I've been in my life now.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 4 January 2014 source ↗

John Waters American filmmaker

Chasing after fire engines as a child with my dad and watching neighbours' houses burn to the ground.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 13 September 2008 source ↗

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Question What does happiness look like for you when life is going well? Identity & self

Playing with a dog. And we’re both drunk.

Recorded The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, 10 August 2017 source ↗

Question Which quality in your friends matters most to you? Relationships

It’s hard to narrow it down, because I want them to have a bit of everything—humor, kindness, integrity, intelligence, tolerance (they need lots of that). But if I had to choose just one it would probably be loyalty.

Recorded The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, 10 August 2017 source ↗

Question What one change would most improve the quality of your daily life? Daily life

A dog. (I don't have one because we're back and forth over the Atlantic and it would be cruel to leave it.)

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 19 April 2014 source ↗

Question What most recently moved you to tears? Identity & self

Over a YouTube clip about animals. "Laboratory animals see sunlight for the first time", or "elephant mourns his best friend the goat". I watch something like that every day and I'm always in pieces.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 19 April 2014 source ↗

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